


Rebels

by Thedreaminus



Category: Noblesse (Manhwa)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-08
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2018-10-16 09:29:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10568481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thedreaminus/pseuds/Thedreaminus
Summary: When the Union gets problems in its own ranks. A Noblesse AU about the Trio.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Noblesse. The Story in the Characters belongs to Son Je Ho and Lee Gwang Su.
> 
> The story takes place outside the Noblesse frame xD The union has begun a hidden war against the noblesse, the traitors of the Noblesse and werewolves have already revealed a long time ago. Thanks to Pandora-Twist for the translation AND the beautiful Fanart!

[Fanart](http://68.media.tumblr.com/0d0c41bc68c11c4db0252a29c3dbc086/tumblr_inline_oo38uruWsg1s8kqxy_500.jpg)

**Chapter 1**

With empty eyes, he looked through the drizzle to the person in front of him. It was a kid, a fucking runt stood before him whose blood dripped slowly to the ground, while he clutched his arm trying to stay upright. Behind him lay a girl dressed in a torn black robe. Her own blood coloured her white hair red at the points, the hair same as the boy. Rain fell into her half-open eyes, and M-21 wondered quietly whether the runt was trying to protect a corpse from him, then he saw her chest feebly lift.

They were both Noblesse, M-21 did not need to see the red eyes to know. They radiated an aura that told him that they were not human. Besides, he casted a discreet glance aside. The corpses of two _hunters_ lay in the ruins, on the cold soaked earth. Inventions of the Union scientists, designed to kill the Noblesse. M-21 was not so sure whether these machines had once been humans. He himself could not feel the cold, for years he had felt nothing but a hole in his soul which the death of his comrades had torn.

M-21 watched as the drizzle washed the blood from her face. His short inattentiveness caused the runt to try to attack him. M-21 caught him and slammed him with ease against the remains of a wall. The boy was badly hurt, so much so that even a lower agent like him could defeat him, the girl seemed even worse. If the two were to fall into the hands of the Union he would rather kill them, and then bury their bodies somewhere the Union can never find. This may sound cruel, but it was more gracious than anything the Union would do with them in the name of the war it had been waging against Noblesse for centuries.

He did not know much about the war himself. He was a _bait_ , decay to play the decoy to lure the enemy into a trap or just to collect data, He had no idea how much microtechnical implants had been implanted in him. He was the peasant on the chessboard and no more. Just like all his comrades and so... Damn he had hoped to meet a strong opponent who would kill him and not to two _half-dead children_. He could not kill them, not as long as he kept M-24 remembrance in his heart. M-24 always had a weakness for children, even if it was a Noblesse.

The transmitter lay in his ear; he knew exactly what the Union wanted from him. But when did he do what these bastards demanded of him? M-21 took the transmitter out of his ear and crushed it between his fingers. The runt looked at him in surprise, but M-21 ignored him. A destroyed transmitter from a bait would cause a stronger unit to be sent to check the situation, he did not have much time.

He bent down and took the girl in his arms. He could have lifted a feather as easily, so light she was to him. She groaned softly and he could see the resistance in her eyes as he looked down at her exhausted face. The boy croaked and came back to his feet. M-21 turned to him and pierced him with a stinging look.

"Do you want to survive this? Then hurry"

With these words, he trudged off to the next building, which was still half-way. He could hear the boy follow him and entered a steel door that hung obliquely in the hinges. The room itself was half tumbled but this was not important at the moment. M-21 moved around the rubble and laid the girl on the ground in the cover of large concrete brakes on the ground. Her blood had soaked his coat in the short time. M-21 took it off and pressed it as a makeshift compress on her wound.

Finally the boy stumbled in. M-21 immediately grabbed him and dragged him to his side, to the side of the girl. The boy looked at him with a mixture of rage and confusion as M-21 made him press the compress on the wound.

"Not a sound after I leave from here, understand?"

The runt stared.

"DO YOU UNDERSTAND?" snapped M-21.

At last the boy nodded. M-21 got up, went to the door, and then gave a last look back. Two red eyes followed him until he slammed the door behind him.

The children were safe as far as one could speak of security in this situation. But to be really sure it needed something else. M-21 looked down at his hand. No, that would not look convincing. Instead he broke a blade from one of the hunters. What came next was definitely not his favorite part, he thought idly as he put the pointed object on his shoulder. Biting his teeth, M-21 pulled the blade with a quick movement from his shoulder down to his hip. Hot blood ran over his skin and stained his shirt scarlet within seconds.

M-21 grunted and let go of the blade, stumbling to the nearest stone to hold on to it. Shit, his heart beat accelerated due to the shock of the self-inflicted wound. Still, he managed to push the blade into the mud to hide that he had hurt himself.

And not a minute too late. From the rain veil came a command of three people. The task force of the DA-5. Of  all the groups that could have appeared ...

M-21 lowered his head as their leader approached him, and eyed M-21 contemptuously, "Report."

"An attack of two Noblesse, they destroyed the hunters and then disappeared" replied M-21 tonelessly. He could taste blood on his lips, had the blade penetrated too deeply in his zeal? Well, it hopefully only made him look more convincing.

"Pfff... what a pity!" Growled a gaunt man with unkempt appearance as he played with a knife in his hand, "And the garbage they had was not even eliminated right..."

M-21 did not respond to this insult. He was a bait, which was like being a broken tool that isn't really needed anymore, except for the dirty work.

Krantz did not go into Shark's words; he observed the area and M-21 disparagingly. "Takeo you had the area in view. What did you saw?"

M-21s heart clenched as he heard this. As inconspicuously as possible, he looked over to the long-haired sniper. The DA-5 had been nearby all the time? Of course, because of the destruction of the hunters! M-21 bit his teeth. Why had he not thought about it? If Takeo had been watching him all the time, he could do nothing but try to buy some time so at least the boy could flee. In anticipation of a fight, his hand tightened around the stone and his fingertips itched.

"It is true."

M-21 froze and held his breath. What?

"Two Noblesse fought the hunters. The bait came; they attacked him and left him before they disappeared northward." The sniper described in a flat voice. Neither his voice nor his facial expressions suggested anything off.

M-21 closed his eyes. He had lied; he had to have seen that M-21 hid the children. Why was he lying?

Krantz grunted indignantly and turned away from M-21 "Back to camp. Takeo take the bait."

"Why Krantz?" Shark scornfully replied, "The thing is already as good as over.  From which one learns determination nothing else."

"He's not part of our department, but Dr. Crombel's," the sniper of the DA-5 told coolly, reaching for M-21's arm to pull him up. "Tao is supposed to read his chip in the base" with these words he pushed M-21 forward. "Come on, we do not have time."

M-21 tumbled and gasped as his vision blurred for a moment. He pressed his hand to his wound and followed the DA-5 as they got moving. Takeo remained at his side all the time and kept an eye on him.

But he had done it. He had bought them time. M-21 did not look back as they made their way to the base.

~.~.~

 

The camp of the DA-5 turned out to be a downsized shed which perhaps had the function of a warehouse. Inside, some objects and furniture stood around. M-21 forced himself to follow Takeo in one of the side rooms, as no other of the DA-5 felt compelled to take care of a bait.

M-21 had previously heard only rumors about the DA-5 and in them the sniper was described as the most repellent member of the DA-5. But why had he lied and supported M-21? As far as he knew, Tao was the hacker of the DA-5, if he read M-21s chip he would find out that there had never been any fight, so Takeo would also be in trouble...

"Tao" Takeo pushed M-21 into the room and closed the door. M-21 stood exhausted in the room not sure what exactly he should do now. On a table in the room sat a lanky man with short black hair, with a laptop on his lap. He looked up as Takeo entered.

"Yo Takeo and ... who is that? I thought you were looking for two hunters?"

"The hunters have been destroyed."

"Woah ... By Noblesse? Are they still alive?"

"Tao you have to delete his chip."

Please what? M-21 still had enough energy to stare at the sniper.

"Huh?" Tao blinked and slid off the table. "Why? And who even is that?"

 

"The two Noblesse who destroyed the hunters were children and seriously injured. He has hidden them and Krantz bought him here." Takeo seemed amused and serious at the same time. "So would you please?"

"Oh, clear, understood" Tao waved M-21 to himself and pulled a chair up. "Will you please uh... what is your name?"

"M-21" answered M-21 and sat down slowly in the chair. What was going on? Why was Tao too now…?

"You are betraying the Union," M-21 said softly.

"Hehe, looks quite like it ..." Tao rubbed his nose and looked for some cables on the table.

"..."

"You also betrayed the Union."

"I'm a damn _bait_ " M-21 spat out every single word "I hate the Union with every fiber of my being and what they have made of me. For me it does not matter if I die here, main thing is that I could _spit on these bastards faces_... You two are high-ranking agents of the Union, why the hell are you pissing them on the leg?"

Tao rocked restlessly on his chair, his eyes fixed on the wall behind M-21. "For the same reasons, I think," he finally gave his answer and turned back to his laptop. M-21 snorted softly and closed his eyes for a moment. Did he trust them? Actually it did not matter. If it came out that Takeo had lied, he was screwed.  Gradually, his body warmed up and his wound became more noticeable, so M-21 pulled out his T-shirt and tore it.

"What are you doing?" Tao asked puzzled, but M-21 did not answer. Instead, he bandaged his wound with the rags. His fingers were cold and stiff, and he needed a few minutes for it. The two DA-5 members looked at each other briefly.

"I still have a T-shirt," said Takeo calmly and left the room. Tao waited until he closed the door before turning to M-21.

"Where is your chip"?

M-21 put his right arm on the table. "Somewhere there."

"Somewhere? How did the scientists come to the thing?"

"The last time, they slit my arm."

"..."

Tao grimaced, "Excuse me," he muttered, taking M-21s arm, groping muscles and tissue. He stopped at his wrist. "Well, he's already there and I do not need Shark," he joked, raising his hand. At first, M-21 did not understand what he was talking about, then he saw the black cable that snaked up Tao's finger. With mild fascination he observed how the cable split into many fine strands, which then drifted into his skin. It did not hurt very much and Tao could simply disconnect the cables and connect to a device which was connected again to the laptop.

As Takeo came back to them, the hacker was almost finished and M-21 dozing. Takeo put a T-shirt, and a bottle on the table and leaned against it. M-21 blinked and ran his hand over his face, looking at the bottle suspiciously but the seal had not yet been broken. He opened the bottle and took some big sips. The water was lukewarm, and so M-21 did a favor to his frozen body. Modified or not, but standing in the rain for days and then losing a lot of blood could not be healthy.

"How far are you?"

"Nearly finished" the hacker gnawed on his nails with thought "Fortunately or not the chip is outdated and has already had some misfires. If I delete the data now, they will not notice further, and will just dismiss this as another wobble contact. Unfortunately, it took a long time because it was so old." He paused briefly "We should do something like that more often."

"No, that cannot be done," Takeo said, his voice sounding sharp, for a moment the two members looked at each other, it was Tao who gave up first. Then Takeo left the table, "I will make report to Krantz," he said, and went outside.

Tao sighed and threw M-21, who had followed the exchange with his brow furrowed, a forced smile as he pulled the cables out of his arm "Well, as you can see our hands are tied."

M-21 reached for the T-shirt. Right, just because Tao and Takeo counted as successful experiments, it did not automatically mean they had it easier. They were better treated, but they were also better guarded. M-21 pressed his lips together and pulled the T-shirt over his head. After that, he made himself comfortable on a small stack of cardboard boxes.

Nevertheless, they had helped protect the two children. In the meantime, he hoped that the two of them were already far away, and would not return.


	2. Chapter 2

The next few days were torture for M-21. The position of bait was not very popular in the Union, but mostly infected people took over this job. Infected invoke in the fewest people something like pity because they hardly possessed properties that were once human. Union’s politics had proclaimed Noblesse as evil creatures since long ago, so the infected persons who were reduced to be like Noblesse were to be felt sorry for, nothing more.

Modified human beings on the other hand, should in the sense of the Union, be grateful for what they had done with them. Finally, they were given the power to defeat the oppressors of mankind... M-21 spat blood on the floor contemptuously. Whoever was an experimental material had to accept his destiny, as if there was great meaning in the fact that one had been robbed of his whole life to provide data material.

In truth, the Union eliminated the category of human waste to which M-21 belonged as quickly as possible. M-21 was the living testimony of the Union’s greed, and his sight aroused an almost unpleasant feeling within others. M-21 reminded them of how quickly one can become useless for Union.

So same was the case with Shark. M-21 licked his bloody lips as he looked up at the thin blue man who was sitting in a chair in front of him and looking eagerly at him, waiting for the scum to recover enough to continue his game. Hammer sat in a corner, chewing and cheering at his comrade. This had already been going on for days, without an order it was impossible for M-21 to leave the camp of the DA-5.

Krantz did not care enough for him, he didn’t feel compelled to stop Shark as long as M-21 was able to turn his patrol. In addition, the leader of the DA-5 had left the base a few days ago, taking Tao with him. For Shark, this meant pure boredom and M-21 was probably a welcome change to relieve some stress. Takeo stopped Shark time and again, but the sniper was not always there.

M-21 laid his head back, feeling his own blood flowing down his throat. He suppressed reflexive choking as his stomach turned around, too well he knew this feeling.

"What's the matter, uh?" Shark whipped back and forth with his chair, the ugly trademark grin on his face. "Are you getting tired?"

M-21 blew his lips and showed Shark his bloody teeth. The Union as the Savior of Humanity? He almost laughed. The Noblesse boy he hid a few days ago had shown M-21 more human features than  the Union ever did. The look in his eyes as he had tried to protect his sister ... This was the same look M-24 had given him the last time he saw him.

"Your sight hinders my regeneration," he groaned at Shark, "I'm sorry, but can you pull a _paper bag_ over your head?"

Shark's grin distorted into an even uglier mask of rage. The agent jumped up from his chair, grabbed M-21 and threw him with enough force against the opposite wall to show deep cracks in it. M-21 wheezed and struggled for air, but Shark was already on him and put his foot on his chest. With a sadistic grin, Shark slowly increased the pressure. M-21 gritted his teeth in pain as his ribs slowly broke under the rising pressure.

"You know what?" Shark shouted with a mad smile "If you scream and implore mercy, I may even listen to you." Hammer laughed in the background. M-21 pressed his lips together and looked at Shark with all the contempt he could muster.

"As you like, it just means more fun for me." Shark giggled, stepping so hard that several ribs broke simultaneously. M-21 reared up, trying unsuccessfully to protect himself. At that moment, the door opened and Krantz followed by Tao and Takeo entered. Sharks snickered silently and stepped off M-21.

M-21 rolled aside and pressed his hands on the broken ribs. Krantz looked annoyed, or rather, really sour, probably the reason why Shark had let him go so quickly.

"You'll leave the bait alone now, Shark," Krantz nodded to Tao "He belongs to Tao from today."

"What? Why that?" Shark demanded to know. Secretly, M-21 wondered the same.

"The DA-5 has received a new mission and Tao needs a helping hand for his work. If he isn’t able to utilize the bait properly due to it being damaged, I will not spare any of you."

"Pah" Shark stuffed his hands into his pants pockets and stomped outside.

"Tao, immediately start with your work," growled Krantz,"The bait should help you with the construction. Hammer, you come with me"

"Roger that."

M-21 straightened and wiped the blood from his face. His ribs were noticeable with a sharp pain, not to mention the variety of bruises and cuts he sported. Tao looked at him worried, but said nothing, not with the other members of the DA-5 within earshot. Instead he showed Takeo and him to take some boxes from a transporter in front of the base down into one of the lower cellar rooms. He continually looked over his shoulder and tapped with his fingers on his forearm.

The hacker sure looked nervous and twisted, even more than usual. M-21 noticed how he peeked at Takeo again and again. Strange ... he leaned against the wall and watched Tao as he went through the crates, muttering softly. Then Takeo came in with the last box, and Tao closed the door behind him.

"What are you doing, Tao?"

"Did you get another order from Krantz?"

"No, I should help you." Takeo frowned. "Why do you ask?"

Tao took a deep breath. "I've been looking for your sister in the main base computer ..."

"You did _what_?"

His sister? M-21 raised his eyebrow. Takeo had a sister? The sniper looked at Tao with a mixture of rage and hope. M-21 remembered that Tao said to him that their hands were tied. So was Takeo's sister the reason why the two were so quiet? Was she also an agent of the Union? But that did not make sense at all ...

"Did you find her?" Takeo asked urgently "Answer me, Tao!"

"No, he did not because you do not have a sister on the first place." M-21 gave a cool look to Tao. "That's the way it is, or..?"

Tao lowered his gaze and did not contradict him.

“That cannot be" Takeo looked incredulously between the two of them, then shook his head "She has always visited me."

Visited when? After an experiment? Snorted M-21 "The Union does not allow any familial bonds within its ranks. Why would you be an exception?"

"M-21 is right, Takeo! I went through your records again and again but you're a single-child." Tao reached for his laptop, “Listen to me. I'll show you some pictures of women now and you can tell me which of them is your sister."

Takeo had such baffled expressions on his face at their conviction that it almost made M-21 snort with pity. Nevertheless, the sniper clenched his hands in fists and nodded slowly. Tao opened his laptop and tapped something, then he turned it so that Takeo and M-21 could see the different images scurried over the screen.

"There she is!" threw Takeo in as the image of a red-haired woman showed "The ... that's Teira." His carefully controlled voice was already betraying his fear.

Tao turned the laptop toward him and looked at the screen. For a long time, no one said anything. Then Takeo turned around in the room to stand restlessly behind Tao.

"Dr.Aris" Tao looked up from his laptop, “Takeo, that is the scientist who created the DA-5."

"No" Takeo whirled around "No, you have to be wrong."

"Dr.Aris conducts a behavior research that deals with human ties and relationships within the Union ..."

"Shut up!" Snapped the sniper. "Let it be, I do not want to hear it. I cannot believe it. I really believed that ...“ His voice was trembling slightly and his aura cackling up carelessly, “I cannot anymore. I cannot live if it’s true..." He finished in a dazed whisper.

"Haha ..." the two DA-5 agents froze as soft laughter filled the room. Takeo‘s eyes narrowed and he turned slowly, "Do you want to say something, M-21?" He whispered dangerously. Tao looked nervously back and forth.

"You've been tricked by a scientist of the Union," M-21 grinned scornfully, "and now your whole word is breaking apart, you _poor_ thing," he chuckled, "Do you want me to hug you?"

"M-21!"

"You miserable ..." Takeo made preparations to attack him, but Tao stopped him.

"Takeo has _lived_ for his sister, he has done everything for her, M-21."

"Yes, and now he is curling himself with self-pity on the ground. If this Dr.Aris could see this, she would surely amuse herself ... "

"M-21, what's wrong with you?" Tao asked, he too was getting angry.

"What's wrong with me?" M-21 whispered softly and jerked away from the wall. "You want to know what's going on with me?" He bared his teeth and showed the two extended canines. Tao and Takeo seemed surprised by his aggression.

"I'll tell you what's wrong with me," M-21 spat out. "The Union garbage who fight every single minute to claim my right to live, do you know how your whining sounds to my ears? My comrades and I... It did not matter if we lived or died, and here you stand so high and mighty above life that you are just willing to throw it away because you got made fun of?!" M-21 growled, and then it was as if a dam broke within him.

He told them how he and his comrades begged each other to live because that was the only thing they could have done for each other, yet still each of them died one by one on him. All his efforts were in vain, all the experiments that he turned onto himself just so he could save his comrades the pain, all the pathetic scheming and lying to fool the scientist to let them go easy, all the sneaking around like cockroaches with equipment to change their stats, all the.. They still all died. What did they suffer all the experiments for? To land in the Union incinerator after being deemed a failure?

He didn’t know if this rant was more to help Takeo, or himself who had been keeping this in for so long. He felt like he was giving a personal part of him to these two by revealing all this… perhaps it was because their comradeship reminded M-21 of his own relationship with the M series? In anycase he kept on until it started to sink in to Takeo, and Tao, both.

Takeo shrank with every word, every spark of anger had vanished from his posture by the end.

"You want to die because your sister is not your sister? So what Takeo? It doesn’t mean that you have to kill yourself for it. And if you're in such a hurry to die, I can help you!" Breathing heavily, M-21 stopped for a moment.

"But maybe you can think for a moment of your _partner_ who has risked his life to get you this information, and what will become of him if you die now ..."

He saw both their eyes widen at his last words. But he ignored them and turned away,"Atleast you still have a comrade who cares for you ..." he whispered and slammed the door behind him.

That damn idiot, it went through M-21's head as he trudged along the corridors. His heart pounded furiously against his chest and he was close enough to tear down the next wall. What would he give to bring his comrades back to life? In front of his eyes, M-21 still saw the images of M-24 as he had pushed him down this damned cliff before everything exploded. There was nothing left of the last of his comrades, not even enough to build a grave. He squeezed his eyelids shut as the thought of it scrubbed his wounds. Even after all this time, the memory of it was still terribly fresh ...

"What are you doing here?"

M-21 froze and turned. Shark and Hammer again, their faces did not promise good. M-21 tightened his muscles as they came closer to him. He knew these expressions, this was one of those situations where no matter what he answers,Shark would still go after him.

"I've asked you something, bait!" Shark repeated dangerously "Are you numb on your ears, uh? I'm afraid I'll have to help you some ... "

"He has just done an order Shark," Takeo's cool voice resonated in the hallway. M-21 heard the steps of the sniper approach from behind, "If you attack him now then you may like to carry the boxes instead."

"Pah, carry boxes" Shark shrugged, shaking his shoulders "No, I like to leave it to the rubbish." With a hateful look at Takeo, Shark and Hammer went on. M-21 could hear them telling each other dirty jokes as they moved away.

Takeo stood next to him "Tao still needs some things ... and ... M-21"

M-21 looked at the man.

"I am sorry."

"... Never say such a thing in my presence again."

"Promise."

* * *

 

**Bonus:**

Shit, shit, shit ... M-21 kicked the next attacker against the wall. This should have been a simple reconnaissance mission. This lab should have been unguarded! Instead, they had gone straight into a trap, the miserable Union bastards had simply handed them over! Several shots fell, the bullets bored into his chest. M-21 sank to his knees, choking as blood filled his lungs and made breathing difficult for him. Then many shots again, this time in his back. He fell to the ground and remained lying, his own blood gathered in a pool around him. Through hazy vision M-21 saw many guards making their way his direction, guns all aimed squarely at him. He was going to die for real this time won’t he?

M-21 was sure he lost unconsciousness for a moment there. Because when he opened his eyes again, soldiers were nowhere to be found; instead M-24 leaned over him, checking his pulse. He managed to get a tired grunt out of him to let M-24 know that he was still alive. The large man looked bloody and battered himself, and he looked panicked, shaking him. M-21 twitched with pain and tried to get up. His injuries were not fatal, but he needed time to regenerate himself.

Time they obviously did not have. M-24 nearly ripped him to his feet and dragged him through the corridors. M-21 let himself be hauled dazedly when suddenly, the ground vibrated and the whole building shook.

“M-21…” M-24’s voice was strange in that moment. In the second he saw his eyes, M-21 had realized it before it happened. He didn’t even get the chance to voice his protest as M-24 pushed him away, over the edge of the cliff where they stood. At the same moment the whole building exploded. The heat of the pressure wave caught him still, and smashed him with greater force at bottom of the cliff than a free fall had done.

He did not even know if he had screamed as he landed. He also did not know if he was unconscious, but when he looked up again he could see smoke and fire, which dipped the night into a bloody light. M-21 reared up in sheer desperation, and managed to get up somehow despite his injuries. His ears rang and the skin stretched on his back, was probably burned. M-21 ignored it, clutching his broken arm, he dragged himself to the wall and looked around frantically, but could not find M-24 anywhere. From the edge of the cliff, only the flames flew up into the sky. He wanted to call, but as soon as he opened his mouth, smoke penetrated his throat and made him cough.

Doubtless, he clung to the rugged rock and continued a senseless attempt to climb up to see his comrade. Three times he tried it, the third time he lost consciousness and sank against the hard rocks while the fire raged above him.

-.-.-.-.-.-

"Report"

Someone nudged him with a boot. M-21 opened his eyes and gasped for air. Another stronger nudge rolled him to his back and a contemptuous and annoyed voice repeated this one damn word: "Report!"

M-21 dug his fingers into the ground. It was bright, daybreak. Smoke had collected on the floor of the cliff. He looked out of the corner of his eye frantically, there were a few soldiers standing beside him, a helicopter circled over his head, but nowhere could he find M-24 ... He knew it was fruitless to fool himself anymore. He knew what had happened. He had seen it with his own eyes a split second before the top of the cliff went out of his sight. M-24’s body ripping apart.

M21 opened his mouth, his voice flat and scratchy as he gave the soldier what he wanted to know : "Mission failed. Bait M-24 died in action.” The soldier finally turned and left him behind. M-21 suppressed a desperate cry, leaning against the rock wall, his face turned away from the soldiers. His back itched and ached as well as his arm. But the pain in his heart tore him as he sat calm and composed on the ground even though everything in him wanted to die. The last of him comrade was gone. He was on his own now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: Why Nobles are being called Noblesse (The one Noblesse aka. Rai) here? One could assume that the Union should know the difference when so many traitors are in the Union. But I guess simply the top of the Union is willing to leave their undersigned in ignorance. After all, they must give the "We are the saviors of mankind" image some credibility. Und we all know that you fear the most what you do not know.


	3. Chapter 3

“M-21? What I need here is a five-wire cable.”

M-21 muttered in response, biting the bar, and rummaging around in one of the crates until he found a suitable cable he could throw to Tao. Beside him, Takeo sipped his bottle absentmindedly; he was still inattentive, and often lost in his own thoughts when he was with them. In the initial days following the revelation of Dr. Aris, his face showed the embittered expression that M-21 knew too well, but it passed with time. Now, he turned more often to M-21, asking him questions about his time as an experiment, or his comrades.

Depending on how good a mood M-21 was in, he replied. If he did not, neither Tao nor Takeo minded, for which M-21 was grateful. In return, the two also told him about their own lives. He listened without comments, but inwardly sympathized with their predicaments.

”Do not you want to eat something Tao?“ Takeo asked.

"Already on it,” replied the hacker, and just then M-21 saw his black cable wrapping around a packed bar, trying to make a hasty retreat. M-21 could not resist and grabbed the cable before it could disappear from the table.

“Can’t you come at the table Tao,” complained Takeo, as M-21 continued his hunt, now engaged in an amusing battle of tug with the sentient cable.

“You’re both game spoilers,” Tao scolded from his corner, as the cable curled like a snake around his hand, groping _,_ first his fingers, then his whole arm. He slouched down the rest of the bar, licking the crumb from the corner of his mouth absently, and watched attentively as Tao’s cable advanced to his shoulder, his collar bone, slithering, slimming and pressing.

Shortly before his chest it was too much for M-21, and he pulled the cable back. “I appreciate your attention Tao, but should we not go on a date before?” He spoke to its owner, who was sitting somewhere behind a horde of boxes. The cable was furiously retaliating in M-21’s hold, wiggling and snapping his nose. Then Tao rose from his hiding place, and came over to them, thankfully calming the cable down.

“What was that?” Takeo asked Tao with mild amusement, and moved a little to the side to make room for the hacker.

“Uh, I’m not sure.” Tao sat on the table and grabbed the bar he had previously tried to steal. “Say M-21, can it be that you have grown?”

“Huh?” M-21 squinted and stretched out his arm, but Takeo’s clothes seemed to be sitting well, even if they were a little too big. He noticed that he had gained weight, the bones were less marked under his skin. His skin color was generally healthier too. Takeo and Tao had provided him with nutritious food, even if these undefinable, compressed bars were hard to describe as food. But grown?

“I’m sure you’ve grown. Of course, not much, at most a few millimeters,” Tao nibbled untiringly at his bar, and twisted his face in disgusted. “Urgh, how do you get these things down so fast M-21?”

“By not chewing on them.” M-21 replied, clenching his fist thoughtfully. Tao groaned and dropped back on the table. He had a better eye for detail than M-21 would probably ever have, which was why he was the tactician of the DA5 despite his low combat power. If he believed that M-21 had grown, there was no doubt about it. An uneasy feeling spread in his chest.

“M-21?” Takeo leaned closer to him. “Is something wrong?”

M-21 looked up, but hesitated with the answer. He had already told the two of them about his time as an experimental material, but not everything. At the moment however, they were dependent on each other. Moments like these, when they sat relaxed, talking about unconcerned things, and trying to eat this disgusting stuff were rare because of the consistent presence of Krantz or other DA-5 members.

This could be the only opportunity to talk to the two about it, and yet there was something reluctant in him. He had been on his own for so long that he had almost forgotten how to talk to someone without letting his guard up. However, Tao and Takeo had been protecting him from the other members of the DA-5 as well as they could. Something only his comrades had done for him, something they were not obliged to do. He was grateful for that, and if he was to conceal this one thing now, it could put them all in danger.

M-21 lifted his hand, and held it against the dim light of the neon lamps, his fingers itched as the nails sharpened and lenghtened in a smooth zap. Next to him, Tao yelped in surprise and fell down from the table, Takeo was probably too surprised to catch the hacker in time. From the ground, Tao stared at him, mouth closing and opening like a fish gasping for air.

“Close your mouth Tao.” snapped M-21 as he stared fixated at his own transformation. Tao made a strangled noise, which sounded between a laughter and an outraged cry and rose again. Beside him, Takeo sighed after having been holding his breath due to sheer surprise.

“Say M,” Tao sat down slowly again in his place, his fascinated look directed at M-21’s hand, “Is there anything else we should know?”

M-21 lowered his hand, his face a single an expressionless mask, though his insides were twisting in unease. He resisted the urge to hide his hand, after all, he had decided to show it to the two.

“I never thought that a lower agent of the Union could have transformation abilities,” murmured the Sniper thoughtfully. “Please do not misunderstand …” He hastened to clarify.

“I should not,” replied M-21, his lips mocking, “The Union knows nothing about it. Only you and I,” and M-24 knew about it before he died, but he kept that to himself.

“Oh,” Tao ran a hand through his short hair and stood up again, although he had just sat down. “Ah damn …” Takeo and M-21 were silent as they watched Tao walk round and around the room. “How long already, M-21?”

“After the experiments ended, I use to swallow pills made to keep my body from breaking apart,” he let go of his transformation, and felt the nails pull back in, “But I no longer require them.”

“This is good news, it means that your body has stabilized.” Takeo smirked, “I am also aware that it is a problem for you if the Union ever finds out that a bait is developing independently …”

“You’d be grabbed and put into a lab again,” Tao finished the sentence and looked at his partner meaningfully, “That’s why you responded strangely when I said you’ve grown. You can conceal your transformation skills.”

“But this is the end when I’ll change even more.” M-21 leaned forward and nervously kneaded his fingers, “And it has already happened.”

“It was only a few millimeters, no one else will notice M-21.”

“That’s not it,” M-21 clenched his hands as fear spread through him, “My transformation has been changing,” he whispered, staring down at his fingers.

“Are you sure?”

M-21 did not bother answering. He was sure, although he had not used his transformation for half an eternity, he was absolutely certain. A quiet beep interrupted the tense silence. Tao reached for his mini computer and opened it.

“Krantz wants to see us,” muttered the hacker and shut his computer back. The two were standing up, “Don’t worry M-21, we’ll find a way to hide it.” Tao showed him a thumbs up before leaving Takeo’s room and closing the door behind him.

M-21 crunched his teeth, and held his head between his hands after the two had disappeared. The problem was not the hiding, he had managed to hide his transformation for years, and he could continue with a little bit luck. The problem was that his body was mutating further.

M-21 clasped his hand and let his nails grow again to be sure, but the result did not change. They were still black but shorter than what he had in mind and that was what scared him most. He could already feel the strange tingling in rest of his hand as if something was yearning to grow there too. He had no way to figure out what the hell these bastards of the Union had done with him, and he had no way to stop it.

-.-.-.-

It took a long time for Tao and Takeo to return. M-21 recognized them by their steps before they opened the door. He dragged his eyelids up and turned his head, still slightly sleepy from the little nap he had allowed himself on Takeo’s bed after having tried his transformation to exhaustion, and barely able to stand. But no matter how often he tried, his nails kept their new look, and M-21 had the unsettling feeling that these transformations had only accelerated the change process.

In the end, he had just given up, M21 bitterly recollected and watched as Tao and Takeo entered with a loaded crate. Takeo closed the door with a kick, somewhat stronger than required. M-21 lifted an eyebrow as he met the long-haired man’s gaze, then let his eyes sweep over Tao too who was unloading his crate. The hacker had the same grim-determined look as his comrade.

“Normally I always look like this,” M-21 opened the conversation without hesitation, and sat up. His muscles trembled though, so he remained sitting in the bed rather than clear the way. The two other men did not answer until they had drawn two chairs near the bed, and made themselves comfortable.

“How are you?” Tao wanted to know first. Of course, he did not miss that M-21 didn’t make any move to get up from the bed, and it was unusual for the gray-haired to lie down at a time like this anyway, M-21 knew and snorted.

“I’m a bit tired,” on Tao’s drilling look, he added, “Because of the transformation”

“Ah?”

“Where were you?” M-21 quickly opted to divert attention from himself. He was in no mood to answer any question about his transformation. To be honest, he really did not even want to think about it.

“We had a meeting with the Union Elders,” Tao replied, “They’re going to throw the whole shop.“ He crossed his arms in front of his chest.

The _Elders_? M-21 blinked. He knew that DA-5 was one of better ranked teams, but to be able to meet the revered Elders in person?… M-21 was reminded again that Tao and Takeo were an unusual duo to be treating a bait like him as an equal.

"…And what did they want from the DA-5?” M-21 asked, half-curious and half to attempt to push the sudden feeling of inadequacy down.

“Actually, they just wanted something from Tao, he enjoys an excellent reputation within the Union,” Takeo smiled cynically. “This opens all doors for him, because apparently the Union can afford a bunch of scientists to create living weapons, but not a few good IT experts.”

M-21 looked on expressionlessly, but his insides were giving him an alert signal. Somehow the two were behaving different than usual, the expression in their eyes did not please him. He himself knew this expression from every time he looked in a mirror. It was his.

“The DA-5 has received the order to set up a server center here.”

“A server center,” repeated M-21 thoughtfully, “This explains the effort of the last few weeks,” he grunted and looked around the room, which was completely wired and secured by the three, “What for?”

“Ah!” Tao hopped up and down his chair. “This is an interesting question!” he put his fingertips together infront of his face, and leaned his elbows on the table for the dramatic announcement, “The Union aims to connect all the facilities and labs through a network, one server center where the _entire_ communication and data obtained will run to each other!”.

”…“

"Come on, M! Are not you aware of what that means? If a server center is built here, then all the data of the Union will be here! Locations, plans, organization, experiments, all the information will be running together!” Tao had to stop and take a deep breath.

M-21 shook his head, “Why now? After all, the Union has been around for years and they never set up a server center before? What is the catch?” He looked at the hacker seriously.

“I’m not sure, but from what I’ve noticed, the Noblesse have caused a lot of problems lately. The Union seemingly lost at some points, so they are now trying to secure their data better.”

Tao began to roll around his chair in excitement as he continued, “The catch is that Elders can not tolerate each other. This is probably the reason why they do not have a single server center. Although they are some kind of government, they are totally suspicious of each other, you just _had_ to be there at the meeting to see!” He had started biting his nails too, totally in his own zone, thoughts spinning at the speed of chair in his brain, "Dae wer thootly feerful dat da otherss wud stheel smethin!” He managed through the fingers in his mouth.

“But why give the order to the DA-5 then?

"Magorthi dcdon oph da Elthders…” Tao had zoomed out completely by the end of the sentence, his thoughts farther than what M-21 could ever hope to go, and the Sniper mercifully took over the rest of the explanation, “But in the end, this only means that Tao would build a server center. It does not mean that all the Elders will have access to it. So far he has the data of only four of the Union Elders.“

No one said anything after that, they all hung to their own thoughts. Now M-21 understood why Tao and Takeo behaved like this. And he was no fool, he also knew why they had divulged this highly confidential information to him.

This was a unique opportunity, and a dangerous one. The Union would take a huge blow even if only a fraction of the four Elder’s data was damaged or let out in any way. And just to imagine what they could do if they had access to any plan, any experiment, any kind of information?

M-21 trembled with excitement, under such circumstances, it was not be inconceivable to access Dr. Crombel’s data. He could find out what this miserable bastard did with him. He could get the names of his comrades, and his own!

However, it would also mean his death. M-21 could not imagine to be able to keep such an obvious secret if everyone was clear where the information had to come from. What this again meant was that even Tao and Takeo would die if they really intended to participate in his plans. Presumably the entire DA-5 would be punished whether they had something to do with a possible betrayal or not.

"You do not have to do that for me.” murmured M-21 unwillingly. He wanted to kick the Union as hard as possible in the ass, but that would bring harm to the two who had covered him?

“What about you?” Takeo crossed his arms, there was a hint of cynicism in his voice. “Are you the only one allowed to stand in the way of the Union?”

M-21 closed his eyes briefly, “I wouldn’t lose, I have nothing to lose, but you? Even if I go through it alone you guys …“ He wanted to say more, but even as he struggled, nothing came to his lips.

Who was he to prescribe these two how they need to deal with this?

He knew about Takeo’s bitterness, who had only obeyed the often cruel commands of the Union because he thought he had to protect a sister. A sister who was never real.

Tao obeyed because he knew there was nothing else he could do, he knew he would be killed or at the very least deprived of his memory if he did not. What kind of person would he be afterwards? Same as before? Or someone like Shark who loved killing? Tao chose his current way to get the chance to do something. A chance that was now offered to him on a silver platter.

"But we will.” Takeo spoke his thoughts out loud “It’s finally like you said, right? The worst thing that could happen is that we will die.”

“…”

M-21 took a deep breath and looked the two in the eyes, “Where do we start?”

“I’d say we start to build the first server, look at the data unobtrusively, and think about what to do with it accordingly.” Tao had stood up, stretched his shoulders, and started to clear the first crate. “Except M-21, you’ll lie and eat something else. You look like you might need it.”

“I’m ok,” M-21 said, and shrugged in surprise as Takeo pressed him into the pillow.

“You’re lying, no excuse,” the sharp blue eyes judged him earnestly. “Seriously M-21, you do not look so good.”

“You don’t say,” mocked M-21, unable to react differently to the unfamiliar ministration. He’d like to help, even if only to divert himself from his inner unrest and the traitorous pull in his heart.

“You also belong practically to me from today,” Tao suddenly quipped up.

“Huh?“

Tao laughed and scratched his cheek nervously, “You know when we talked to Elders about the planning? I came with an idea and casually mentioned how useful of an aid you’ve been.”

“How charming” M-21 gibed and looked tense at the hacker, “And?”

“Dr.Cromel agreed and…“

“H…Hey Tao,” Takeo moved to interrupt his babbling comrade.

“You’re _my_ property now M!” Tao finished, quiet proud of himself.

“…”

“…”

“Did I say something wrong?”

As Takeo moved to lecture his oblivious comrade, M-21 closed his eyes with a sigh. He didn’t particularly mind Tao’s words, he was use to being treated as a thing, not that Tao meant anything condescending by it. He also recognized instantly why Tao had asked for his transfer. Now that he was Tao’s, no one else could use him without his permission, not even the scientists, for the time being atleast. One less worry.

But he was still lightheaded, and everything Tao and Takeo had told him circled furiously round his head before he fell asleep. How could they force the Union to link the remaining Elders data to inflict maximum damage, and speed up things before anyone else got involved in the project?

Just before he fell asleep, he had an idea how he could achieve this. A rather crazy idea.

-.-.-.-

Had he not thought a few hours ago that this was a crazy idea? Shit, he was absolutely insane! There was no guarantee that this bizarre plan would work. He was going only by one clue, nothing else. Not to mention, he had crept out of the camp without anyone noticing. He was expecting a violent beating, at the minimum, when he came back … _if_ he came back.

M-21 had dark expressions as he paved his way through the undergrowth. An untamed part of him enjoyed breathing the fresh air and feeling the springy forest floor again after so long. Were his taste and smell always this good? He suppressed an excited shudder and accelerated his pace. Soon the forest became lighter and the trees grew smaller until he could only see the scrubs that covered the ruined buildings, and the clefts and caves filled with water. His destination was close, and finally he stepped out onto the open space where he had been a few weeks ago.

The bodies of the two hunters were gone, probably already in the Union incinerator. The only sign of any violent struggle in the area was the solid blade that he himself had inserted in to the ground. M-21 bent and freed the blade. The steel was dirty, but showed no signs of rust or wear. He looked on for a few seconds, then dropped it carelessly back and started scouting around the area. But there was no trace of anything remotely useful anymore.

The building he had used as a hiding-place for the children was now completely collapsed, except for a retaining wall and a part of the roof. He entered it, evading the steel door that was on the floor, and again failed to find something worthwhile. Tired, he leaned against the wall with a sigh. What now? It was clear that after this building, there were no more places to look here. Of course, he could still go on, cross the invisible border to search for the Noblesse across the world, but that promised to be even more unsuccessful than his current endeavor.

As soon as he would be far enough, the Union would handle him as a traitor, and they only needed to push a button to eliminate him. He did not know exactly how, but had already seen it with some infected … In addition, it was more than likely that the Noblesse would kill him before he could even speak. What was he going to tell them? “Ah, nice day, isn’t it? Could you please attack the Union here, and there so they are scared enough for us to carry out our plans? Yes? Thank you!” That would surely strike like a bomb…

M-21 sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. Not that the real plan for which he came here was any better. The chance to meet those children was never great anyway. Still after all his efforts, he could not even find a single clue… In retrospect, he should have thought about this more thoroughly.

As he opened his eyes and mentally readied himself for the disastrous Plan B, he heard a soft sound close by, and a cool voice spoke behind him. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Team is up! We used to have M-21 as: “I-make-you-headbangs”, than there is Tao as: “Totally-unsensible-but-intelligent” and the last on Takeo as: I-am-so-fluffy-like-a-pillow” xD No promise when the next chapter will come but it will not take so much time since my exam are over.
> 
> Thanks you like always @pandora-twists! And yes I will say this in each new chapter because you are so a creat help!
> 
> PS: Tao’s funny behavior and much more came from her!


	4. Chapter 4

Tao was not stupid, he was considered a strategic and logistical genius of the DA-5 and within the Union. Nevertheless, he had not given much thought at first when their new partner could not be found the next day. Tao did not want to imagine how the man felt in the current situation, especially considering his uncontrolled mutation. M-21 had long been a single-fighter and unlike Tao who had always relied on Takeo, he had no person to trust since his last comrade died.

Sometimes when M-21 talked about his deceased comrades, Tao felt something like envy rise within him. Although he wouldn't say he was jealous of a bait, but could he too care about a comrade enough to willingly sacrifice himself for his protection? He had never even thought about it before. Somehow, it had always obvious to take care of himself only. Even his contact with Takeo had never been very tight ...

Tao shook his head and the confused thoughts in it. At the moment there was a more urgent problem to solve than his own life philosophy. M-21 was missing, for almost two days. Tao could have disguised if it was just a few hours, but two days were much too many. Now Krantz had noticed it which was _bad_ … to put it mildly.

The good thing was that Krantz had only found out at noon today, and he saw M-21 as Tao's property and as such his problem alone. But his absence was sure to delay their assigned work, so it was important to locate the gray-haired man as quickly as possible. Takeo had climbed up to the observation point to keep an eye out. Tao, on the other hand, tried to track the chip of M-21 for the 7th time.

It might have been useful before that the chip was old and malfunctioned, but now its inability to capture M-21’s coordinates was an issue.

"Come on," the Hacker murmured, watching the laptop count. Maybe he should make a new chip? Or at least something that works and only he could locate it, not the Union? Before he could follow the thought, the laptop beeped and Tao nearly jumped in excitement. He had received a signal!

"Takeo I got him" he contacted the Sniper over a secure connection. At the same time, he scanned the chip for his GPS signal.

"Where is he?" Takeo said slightly distorted from the small channel "Tao?"

"He's ... here," Tao responded slowly and with more irritation in his voice than he wanted. "The signal came from the base" Confused, he stared at the displayed coordination.

Takeo paused for a moment, then said something which made Tao's blood freeze in his veins "I have not seen Shark and Hammer for quite some time"

The chair fell clattering to the ground as Tao jumped up, this time really. "I'll give you the coordinates" he said narrowly into the transmitter and left the room as fast as he could.

"Tao don't be silly, wait until I'm there!" Takeo reminded him and Tao could hear a door slam.

"No time," replied the Hacker as he switched off the transmitter and jumped down the stairs. Shark's interference would easily explain M-21’s disappearance. Shark hated M-21, just out of the fact that he was a bait, and it went against his conviction to see Krantz or Tao make such a big effort on someone like him, and he was deeply sadistic. If he really was the reason for M-21's disappearance, then it might be too late already.

Tao reached the basement and ripped open the door. The first thing he saw was a lot of blood and a curled figure lying near the wall. Then he saw Shark and Hammer. The second one was sitting in a chair stuffing some food as per usual, and Shark was standing next to him. Both seemed surprised by Tao's sudden appearance.

"Oh, you're looking for your toy?"

Tao did not respond to Shark's hateful tone. He forced his face to a well practiced, blank expression.

"Is he alive?"

"Don't know?" Shark shrugged, "When I last checked, he was still"

"Tell me one good reason why should I not call Krantz right now," growled Tao "so that he can tear your ass."

Shark giggled. It was that disgusting sound that Tao knew well from whenever Shark was highly amused "Krantz will not do anything" He leered "it's your toy, is it not?"

"Actually" came a cool voice "You are wrong Shark" It was Takeo who had spoken. Tao held a relieved sigh when he saw the Sniper. Shark had seemed willing to risk a trial of strength, and Hammer too looked seriously offended that someone was interrupting his fun.

Takeo raised his stinging look at Shark. The two men stared at each other. "Sure, M-21 is Tao's toy, but incase you have forgotten, Tao needed him to finish our assignment on time." His scathing look wandered over Hammer and then at M-21 "Like _that_ , the bait can not be used in the near future, which in turn means that the order will be delayed. Think about the rest yourself."

Shark's smile froze. Hammer came to his help, "The bait had sneaked off the base this morning without permission. A small beating is not so wrong, is it?"

"A small beating," Tao now replied icily, "Look.at.it. Its useless for now!" _So the two did not know the M-21 had left the base much earlier than this morning?_

The ardent grin of Hammer's face had disappeared by this time, and Shark looked as if he were going to explode. "Take your toy then!" he walked over to M-21 and kicked him.

"Enough Shark, stop!"

"I just want to wake it up," Shark mocked and raised a fist "Wake-e-e-e-e-e-e--e- _e_ " Tao's electric shock had hit him before, he could hit his target, and Shark jumped four feet up before landing back on his feet "What the hell?!" He screeched furiously at Tao, tearing the black cables from his arm.

Tao was not sure himself. But he knew that he was incredibly angry at the moment and wasn’t willing to bother wasting thoughts about Shark actually being stronger than himself or the potential consequences of this rift.

"I am _done_ with you, and your interferences in my work." Tao took a threatening step towards Shark "I need the bait for the mission because you two _idiots_ can do nothing else than eat whole day and knock silly jokes. If you were atleast able to take over his work I would not have cared, but even for that _you"_ he waged a finger directly at Shark "are too _stupid_." Shark's mouth was hanging open now "Move your ugly ass off already Shark before I do something I might regret." A heavy hand on his shoulder stopped his tirade before things could escalate anymore.

"I think Tao has been clear," said the Sniper calmly, pulling Tao back. "You should go to Krantz and explain him the reason of delay before we lose more time."

Hammer rose and stomped to the door. His face was as furious as Shark. Tao and Takeo cleared the way for them, and the hacker walked up to the curved figure, even though he would have preferred to run. M-21 had not stirred since his arrival and Tao hoped that the man was just unconscious

"You know" he heard Shark speak behind him "The bait was only half as interesting as all the innocent people I could only kill because of you, Takeo"

"What are you talking about?" Takeo's voice sounded incomprehensible.

Tao felt an icy knot in his stomach. Not that, not now.

"You've already understood." Shark laughed shrilly but not for long. Takeo's fist landed directly on his face and sent him flying to the opposite wall. Tao braked his comrade with one of his cables before he could go even further on Shark.

Shark wiped his face, and giggled madly. "You did not really believe the Union would allow a civilian to recognize us again, right? You're so incredibly naive and so gentle when I think about your sister ..." Shark did not manage to finish the sentence. Tao gave him a second shock, stronger than the first. Shark screamed, this time from pain. This was going in a _very_ bad direction.

"I said enough," Tao spat. "I have no time for that. Move your ass out of here!” He could feel Takeo fighting his cables wildly and pulled them tighter. Shark had murder written on his face and seemed ready to launch on them any second. Tao wondered if there was going to be death match between them right there ... Then, fortunately, Hammer decided to follow Tao’s lead and literally dragged Shark out of the room. Tao could hear Shark growling curses all the way as they climbed stairs.

Only when there was complete silence, did he loosen the grip of his cables on Takeo. The Sniper snapped and turned.

"Why did you stop me?" He hissed at Tao, his fists trembled with rage.

"You know why" Tao replied, hating that his voice trembled. Because they were not allowed to leak up. Because they had to help M-21. The other man shook his head and took a few steps back. Then, faster than Tao could see, he had disappeared slamming the door behind him. Tao was alone with M-21.

"Shit," Tao whispered and rubbed his hand over his forehead. "Shit, shit ..." he repeated again and again, trying to calm his fluttering nerves. That was just too much at once, and he needed Takeo right now by his side. He had known about Takeo's small rescue missions, and had even talked about civilians with him every now and then. But that Shark killed them all ... was only logical in hindsight, from the Union point of view. Tao scolded himself, he should have thought about it before.

He had also just ruined all those years of rapport with Shark and Hammar by humiliating them in front of Takeo, and for a bait at that. He had needed the upcoming days to be peaceful for the Elder given mission, but with the tension within DA-5 now, things were looking bleak …

Tao shook his head. Now was not the time for self-reproaches. M-21 needed help. He knelt down beside the battered figure without caring about the blood that soaked his clothes. Carefully he touched the gray-haired man at the shoulder.

"M-21?"

No reaction. Tao shook him carefully. M-21 body twitched faintly and he gasped. Tao felt a touch of relief. "M-21 what ... ARGH"

Tao could not speak any further. M-21 had pushed him to the ground. His hand was clenched around Tao's neck, choking him. The man gave a strange sound, and Tao realized with fright the M-21's iris was almost white and the pupils were incredibly thin.

"M-21!" Tao gasped and clutched his wrist. Had he transformed his hands? M-21 handle was surprisingly strong, but not too strong for Tao if he want to break it. He did not know what M-21 was doing, but the man did not seem to recognize him.

"M-21" Tao tried to persuade the other "come back to your senses!" Should he attack him? The decision was taken away as Tao felt a cool air dive, and before he could understand, M-21 eyes had rolled back and he tilted to his side. Before Tao and behind M-21 stood Takeo. He had knocked out M-21.

"I'm sorry" muttered the Sniper.

"Me too" The Hacker straightened up and rubbed his neck. With a queasy feeling, he watched as M-21 claws pulled back until nothing could be seen.

~.~.~

They had brought M-21 into the room with the server equipment and put him on Takeo's camp bed. His injuries were manifold and all of them bore Shark's mark, with some exceptions that were probably from Hammer. The arms and legs did not seem broken, but M-21 had a few big bruises that worried Tao as they seemed to be a sign of internal bleeding. Neither of them had enough medical knowledge to adequately provide for such an injury.

They could badly cut open M-21. Their only choice was to clean the external wounds, wrap up his chest for the broken ribs and put a breathing mask on him to supply more oxygen and hope that his regeneration abilities were strong enough.

They did not speak a word, and the silence was hard between them. In the end, Takeo grabbed a couple of straps and they both tied M-21 more or less to the bed. Tao felt bad about it, but if M-21 would want it, he could tear the straps with some effort. It was just a precaution to see if he was fully conscious.

Then Tao got coffee for the two of them, an absolutely horrible mixture, but their only alternative to water. They sat down so that they had M-21 in view and drank the coffee.

"It's not your fault," Tao began cautiously after a while. However, his own voice did not sound very convincing. In his mind, he was plagued with guilt at the thought of the uninvolved people he had already killed.

Takeo ran his hand tiredly over his face. "Are you sure? My actions gave Shark a reason to kill them. I brought these people to death by my thoughtlessness"

"You tried to save them" Tao played unhappily with his cup "The Union does not spare any witnesses. Maybe not right then and maybe not even through the DA-5, but Union would certainly have killed them one way or the other. You just tried to give them a chance to survive."

The Sniper looked at him hesitantly, then averted his gaze"...Do you think Shark found them _all_?"

Something in Tao heart moved hearing his desperate query. Was this the care for comrades that M-21 always talked about? He shrugged helplessly "If you want, I'll search the database later if we have more access, but I would not insist that there are survivors"

"Yeah, not with Shark. Ugh, somehow accustomed to waking up like this" a third, weak and rough sounding voice spoke. Tao and Takeo started and looked at M-21 simultaneously. The man had woken up and Tao sagged with relief. Though M-21 eyes were barely open, Tao could see that his pupils were back to normal and the iris had regained the familiar stormy gray.

"What's going on?" M-21 frowned, as he tugged at his shackles without breaking them. Takeo came forward to unleash him as Tao observed his state. The second the bindings were removed, M-21 shot up straight on his bed, and Tao was sure that he would regret it immediately. He crashed on M-21 side to support him as the man twisted in pain. Instead of being thankful, M-21 _growled_ at him

"Stay away!"

Ok, that was enough. Enough stress for one day. Tao did not even try to soothe M-21. He ignored the snarling and sat with his back against the bed headboard, folded his arms behind his head and sighed deeply. M-21's growl lowered and the man looked uncertainly over his shoulder. Next, Takeo made himself comfortable on the bed and stretched out his legs casually. They had simply strangled M-21 protests.

M-21 pulled the breathing mask from his face and stared at his hands. Tao and Takeo let him take his time.

"Is Shark still alive?"

"Yes" Takeo answered.

M-21 grunted and gave a series of very interesting abuse words dealing with Shark's appearance, intelligence and possible origins. Then the man turned his head to look at Tao and narrowed his eyes.

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"I attacked you"

"You can remember?"

M-21's face reflected uncertainty. "I'm not sure ... then I _did_ attack you?"

Tao nodded "I'm fine. Mot missing any body parts, see?" he added quickly.

M-21 acknowledged this with a bitter laugh "Not _yet_ " He let himself sink back again, hissing with pain.

Tao turned around so that he could support himself with his arms on the metal frame of the bed. There was no point in saying that everything would go well. That would be a lie and they knew it. Takeo brought M-21 a water bottle and helped him take a few sips. Tao played around the oxygen supply, he wanted to contribute small amounts of a light sleep gas, which worked well with modified humans.

"Where were you?" Tao asked the question, which had caused them all the trouble.

"At the ruins where those Noblesse brats had been" the man replied softly, "I have spoken to one of them and given them information. If everything goes well, the Union will soon get the kickoff we need."

"Woah," Tao inadvertently slipped out, though his first reaction was something more in the direction: Are you tired of life?

"Listen M-21"

Takeo screwed the bottle "Regardless of what you did. The next time you move your ass out of the base without telling us so we can support you, I'll kick you myself that you’ll not be able sit for the next three weeks."

"Why do I have the stupid feeling that my own preach just falls back on me?" The gray-haired man sneered, but did not sound quite as sharp as usual. Tao and Takeo watched his eyes flicker again and his whole body relax, and without resistance M-21 let Tao take over the breathing mask. Tao screwed back the gas supply. Hopefully it would suffice to keep M-21 asleep.

"Do you think he understood?" Takeo asked him skeptically.

"I think so" Tao stood up and covered M-21 "But we can remind him again when he wakes up"

The fact that they were talking about M-21's health rather than fretting over the risk involved in the serious and apparently careless treason he had committed, told them how deep they all were in this, and how okay with it they were. Either union was getting screwed by them soon, or they were. Either way, Tao didn't seem to mind much.

~.~.~

Later in the night, they were welding a few processors together - Tao thought all the available processors were useless - when the alarm turned on in one of the already standing systems. Tao left everything lying around and switched on his laptop to see what was going on. What he saw made him take an alarmed deep breath, then obsessively pick on his laptop.

Takeo found Tao with his nose in the screen, giggling to himself.

"…Tao?"

"Yes?" Tao leaned back with a wild swing.

"Everything ok?"

"The headquarters of the 12th Elders just blew up."

" _What!?_ " Takeo blinked and turned his head to look at the sleeping M-21

"You don’t think he …"

"I have to mirror the data on the server of course, can't have it lost can we?" Tao could not resist a wide grin "I guess we are on the offensive now"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I remember being promised that it would not take long … well I have lied LOL No really I sorry (a little bit). Blame the write blockade! Yet I've managed^^ This chapter marking the start of the secret operation of the trios and it forcus on Tao’s shift of heart. I won’t promise when I will manage to update the story, but it will 
> 
> PS: And a big THANK YOU to my helper!


	5. Chapter 5

Their nerves were blank. A mixture of tense expectation and fear. The latter came from Kranz, who came to them shortly after midnight to speak to them. Takeo did not think he would blame Tao and him for the behavior of the other DA-5 members. But Kranz has always had far-reaching disciplinary procedures. Excuses from their side would only make things worse.

Takeo did not have much time. he made a rough plan with which words he wanted to distract Krantz best. Shortly after the alarm, Krantz was already at the door. Takeo caught him with the news that the headquarter of the 12th Elder was being attacked. This commanded Krantz the hoped-for stop. Their leader immediately focused his thoughts on the essential.

"When did this happen?"

"Ten minutes?" Takeo estimated, stepping back to give Krantz a better view. He had not replaced any instructions, caused any trouble. Unlike Tao, he had a certain fighting ability that could not be dispensed with so quickly. That had always made him one of the better DA-5 agents in Krantz's eyes. Now that the trouble with Shark and Hammer was so fresh and certainly would not be so easy to clean up - Takeo did not even want to waste a friendly or neutral thought on Shark - it was all the more important to draw Krantz on their side.

"Why I was not informed earlier?"

"Not all drives were connected because of ... a lack of manpower" Tao intervened and glanced over to M-21, "I'm afraid the existing storage capacity would be insufficient once I started to reflect the data on the sever. Takeo was so nice to help me out."

Krantz sorted the information he heard. "How much do you have?"

"Hard to say," Tao put his laptop aside, swung his legs across the table and walked over to the server, looking at the hard drives in different colors and tones signals. "Six of the disks are full," the hacker replied. "The seventh, in part. That's roughly between 50-70 terabytes of data I could save before the connection broke. I can't say how much total data was there. I also can not rule out that a part is damaged because it was quite hectic."

Krantz turned on his heel. "I'll contact the Sits," he said, meaning the rest of Elder. "Shark and Hammer are not supposed to approach for now and ..." Krantz stopped beside M-21's camp bed, "What's up with that?"

Takeo's stomach churned. "Will recover, but that will take a few days". How should they convince Krantz - without sounding suspecious - that the M-21 was useful? Currently, M-21 had no value except as an additional worker.

"How long?"

"We do not know," Tao sat down again with his laptop, "But it takes several days to retrain someone." More contradictions thrown in hopes that Krantz will bite onto someting. They could not afford more opposition. Krantz thought for too long for Takeo's taste. Finally he turned and left the room. As soon as the door slammed and Krantz's footsteps ceased, Tao hissed and let his breath out. Even Takeo kneaded his fingers to release a bit of tension.

Tao chuckled and it sounded a bit manic. "In the next few days and months, much depends on our acting performance!" He stopped laughing and gasped excitedly for air. Takeo brought him some water and watched as he drank. Apparently M-21's action had done exactly what they had hoped for. From now on, things would be twice as dangerous.

Behind Tao's forehead was chaos already, that much was clearly visible. Takeo stood patiently beside his partner and took the bottle after a few minutes. He knew too well how much depended on Tao now. Neither M-21 nor he could develop a system to infiltrate the Union, they could only help and try to keep most of the stress away from Tao. Takeo had already experienced Tao in high work mode. Too many tasks, stress and then no sleep. In addition, the hacker in the last few hours had to deal with M-21's attack and the incident with Shark and Hammer. Enduring Shark was no easy feat.

Takeo knew he had to take care of him.

"I need a new laptop. Help me choose a few items." Tao was at a speed on the legs, which Takeo had to respect. He held up a part, looked at it and casually let it fall back into the box.

"Why?" Takeo made his way over to help him. A laptop? He should be able to manage that. Roughly, Takeo knew what was involved, and he started looking for the power cables.

"I want to build a laptop or a mini-computer," Tao formed an appropriate size with his hands. "It would be awkward if the Union finds the data from their labs on my laptop." The hacker nervously gnawed on his lower lip, "I love my baby," he murmured, glancing at his laptop, "But I should not hoard any _borrowed_ data on it"

Takeo nodded and knelt beside another box to look for those useful parts that Tao had asked him to find. "Would not it be better to just access the data?" He asked, looking at two cables to see if they differed.

"Sure. Seventy terabytes is already a lot of data and with only one-small-equipment." Tao underlined the last three words with a corresponding gesture. "Hell ... I mean we alone may need a separate terminal server that we have to hide somewhere."

"This is very expensive."

Tao nodded. "From the beginning I had put backdoors in the standard programs. Well hidden, of course. A laptop with a virtual machine is enough for me. I can access and then use their server and their memory. But what if we want to send it to the Noblesse? A link over a longer distance with a system that I don't even know about? I would have to send the data in pure form, through the lines!"

Which none of them had thought about. M-21 had contacted Noblesse, but would they continue to listen to what he had to tell them in future? When it came to building an interface? Tao patted him on the shoulder.

"Let's focus on my new laptop first."

"Ah."

It was probably the best.

-.-.-

The Union did not take long to react to the attack. Not twenty-four hours after the attack on Union base and all its quarters hummed like a hive. Unfortunately, the 12th Elder was not in the lab at the time of attack and had survived. He had himself, via a remote switch, let Tao  salvage the data and his server through his personal security code. He was very suspicious and reminded Takeo of an angry pig.

Starting in the morning, more and more workers, more temporary workers, more technicians and more material would come to help build the servers. They only had a short time window to prepare and make plans. Fortunately, Tao's new laptop was already ready and only needed to be introduced to the standing server.

Takeo had managed to find some cans. 'Pork with beans' was labeled on the already fading wrapping paper. It tasted only slightly better than the bars they usually took, but they still liked it. A little change was good.

As modified humans, they did not need food for weeks. They did not have to eat, but were able to recharge their energy reserves as normal people did. They only ate now to occupy themselves more than anything else. Eating together was comfortable and they felt more like human when they were doing such a normal, humane activity. Last but not least, it was M-21 who had brought it to them since he had to eat - despite modification - much more often than Tao and Takeo.

So they sat quietly talking to each other on their provisional seating and ate. They still had to make the server room and take away their personal belongings. After all, soon the place would be swamped with dozens of technicians and assistants. It was only convenient to look for a room from where they were hopefully only minimally disturbed.

"You know," Tao mumbled with his mouth full of beans, "Now that it's obvious we're still spending some time here, we should get ourselves a stove and a pot." Takeo squinted over to him and raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"Then we can warm up our food! Maybe it will taste better."

Takeo took the effort to look into the can. The pulp he saw in it did not make him want to warm it up. Who knew if the stuff would come to life and attack him?

"How is M-21?" Tao put his can aside. They both looked over at the couch where the gray-haired man had been lying and sleeping since last night. This was not the first time Tao had inquired about M-21 and Takeo went over to check on him. M-21 did not move and showed no signs of waking up anytime soon. Neither of them could say if this was good or bad.

"No abnormalities so far," Takeo informed and added after a moment: "We have to carry away our equipment..." in one of the lower rooms. The room they had chosen as their base of operation. Did that mean M-21 had to go down with them? They could not leave him up here. Could they move him?

With renewed anxiety he strode over to the patient's bed again. Tao followed him.

"His complexion looks a little better," Tao remarked as they both leaned over the wounded man.

Otherwise nothing. "Maybe we should change the associations," suggested Takeo, waiting for Tao's nod. So they could see the wounds and could estimate how far the healing process had advanced. With an army knife and a lot of patience, they opened the knots one after the other. However as soon as the bare skin appeared, they froze.

"That's ... shit," Tao cursed under his breath and Takeo agreed with his heart. There was nothing left. No wound, not even a scratch, just some dried blood and a few faded bruises. He scanned the ribs and bones. Everything seemed to be alright there too.

"I suppose we can just carry him down."

"Ah ... let's put the bandages back so no one can see."

"Good idea."

They both set to work quickly. More to calm their troubled nerves. M-21 should not be able to recover so fast. Not from the injuries he had, not during this period. "We need Crombel's data as soon as possible," Tao whispered hastily, "I like this less and less."

"I know someone who is a hundred times more uncomfortable," Takeo replied quietly. But Tao was right. They had to access Crombel's data to find out what was going on with M-21. For his own sake.

-.-.-

"What do you think?"

"Hm ... looks like a headband."

"Nobody will see that later. Not with your hair anyway. It's more important that nobody can hear us later and you have no button in the ear! This goes directly over the temporal bone. "

"I don't know …"

"Hng ..."

Takeo interrupted his conversation with Tao and thus his attempt to turn this invention on its head. As soon as they could spare a little time, he would exchange a serious word with Tao. About personal boundaries for example. Tao showed impressively that he did not believe in this concept and leaned so close to M-21 that their noses almost touched.

"You are in my face," M-21 did not mumble, fully awake and blinked up at Tao, who grinned at him. Noticing that Tao's grin was turned-up a bit too much because of his excitement, Takeo pulled him back by the collar. M-21 took the opportunity to sit up. The man grimaced and shook himself as if he needed to get rid of an uncomfortable feeling.

"How long?"

"Not twenty-four hours."

M-21 raised his eyebrow and scanned his torso. Then he paused, considered and pulled one of the bandages away completely. They waited quietly until he realized what he was seeing and what it meant.

"Yes, fuck my life," grunted the gray-haired and threw the bandage carelessly behind him.

"Want to hear something good? The headquarter of the 12th Elder was completely destroyed," babbled Tao carelessly to distract M-21. "Unfortunately he was not present at the time."

"That was too good to be true, right?" M-21 remained in his ironic mode, ignoring Tao's distraction attempts. He clenched his fists several times and then sighed heavily. They could see how he had pulled himself together and his face showed no signs of discomfort. But he could not fool Tao and him. They knew he was anything but calm and they knew he did not want to talk about it.

"What is the current status?"

"Well ..." Tao gave him an overview of the developments of the last few hours. Takeo brought a can and some water to M-21. To his irritation, he only took the water and put the can away from him.

"Not hungry?"

"Yet," M-21 slowly and thoughtfully opened the bottle cap, "But, maybe I should not."

To keep himself weak. Takeo frowned, skipping the pros and cons that came with M-21's statement. It was natural to suspect that M-21 changes were related to the better lifestyles they offered him here. That his body could now resort to more energy reserves. On the other hand, M-21 did not even admit to knowing how much he had changed before their meeting. Food deprivation could slow down his progress, but it was not a certainty. Therefore, this was probably just an indefinite test. Takeo took the can and put it back.

"Not for long," he added for safety's sake. M-21 nodded in agreement, or he nodded reassuringly. The man was more stubborn than the concealed barrel of a semi-automatic.

"Say M-21," Tao sat down on the cot next to M-21 and besieged him. Takeo could see how M-21 paused briefly in his movement, probably not knowing how to respond to this sudden approach. Takeo watched as Tao moved so close to M-21 that their shoulders touched. M-21 remained in his posture, still holding the bottle in his hand. Takeo saw his muscles twitch.

"How were they?"

"Who?"

"The Noblesse."

M-21 curled his lips and his eyes became ice cold. The change came so suddenly that Tao, who was immune to mood swings, jerked back. Takeo got worried, but M-21 was back in control. This was another point that made it so hard for him to get warm with M-21. He was unpredictable and even Tao had a hard time assessing his temperament. The gray-haired hid his emotions too well.

"I suppose Noblesse do not like modified human," laughed Tao, trying to lessen the tense situation.

"... Yeah," M-21 growled trying not to dump his emotions on them. "I ... I spoke with the boy I had saved," half whispering he added something like: ungrateful brat. "Turns out he was trying to find his father back then."

"His father?" Takeo pulled another bed closer to sit down, "Did the Union kidnap him?"

"Probably. He talked a lot and also a lot of stupid stuff. Something about the fact that the Union has almost wiped out his family or relatives and probably abducted his father. In any case, he believes that."

"And then he wants to alone...?"

M-21 laughed. "I told him same. But he just said that he is older than me and he's such a shit."

Takeo thought the child must've said a lot more about M-21. M-21 seemed emotionally charged and these were certainly not just matter-of-fact words. The gray-haired man looked gloomily and brooding to the ground.

"They do not like modified humans," he mumbled then and kept all that the Noblesse must have thrown in his face for himself. But the spoken was already enough. Takeo and Tao were silent with him and all of them were thinking.

Takeo stared at his hands, at the scarred, calloused skin. That was fine. They did not know the Noblesse and it was probably too much to expect that this species was positive about any aspect of the Union. Only that was the point. They also detested the Union. Disdained their actions, what had been done to them, and what they were forced to do. But they were still part of this organization.

"We can not expect from a child, who has lost his family at the hands of the Union and whose father is probably imprisoned, to see the difference." The difference between wanted and forced.

"Sure, the only party that's interested in us ..." M-21 started to spit out, but left it at the gesture itself. "We do not want anything else from them". Beside him, Tao gave an infinately sad expression, just before M-21 clutched at his nape with one hand, the other entangled in his hair almost tearing them out.

"M!?"

"I just feel like it," M-21 growled near Tao's ear and continued on with this strange attempt to distract Tao. Takeo sighed and counted out the seconds. Normally, M-21 let go himself. He did not like physical contact very much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah! Next chapter! And the number 6 is already done ( nearly ). So it should not take ssooo much time. I am aware that not so much action happens in this chapter, but there will be enough of that. This is more of a trio-bonding chapter^^


End file.
